Girls Day Out

Hello sweet peeps and welcome to my blog.  Hope you are all having a fabulous day.

A little while ago, I mentioned that I had a fantastic day out with four amazing ladies .. Heather Jacob, Astrid Maclean, Adriana Bolzon and Helen Wallace.   Not only are these ladies amazingly talented as scrappers but they are also the sweetest, loveliest people you could ever hope to meet.  I feel so blessed to be able to call them all 'friend' and to have been included in this wonderful day.
The main reason for this 'Girl's Day Out' was so we could meet with Astrid in person.  Heather and Astrid had already met a few years ago, but the rest of us only knew her online.  Those of you who are familiar with Astrid will know that she actually lives in Scotland but, at the moment she is in Australia visiting relatives in Melbourne.  Luckily for us, she was able to come to Adelaide for a few days and Heather arranged for all of us to get together.  We ended up in Hahndorf and had the most wonderful day just chatting .. laughing .. chatting .. eating .. shopping .. chatting (LOL!!) ..  it was awesome!!
 A kind passer-by took this photo for us.

For those of you who don't know us from right to left is Adriana Bolzon, Helen Wallace, Astrid Maclean, Heather Jacob and myself.

We also exchanged some handmade gifts and I thought I would share them with you.
 First up is this amazing card by Adriana.

I love the embossing on this card, especially the gold heat embossing on the front .. absolutely  gorgeous.  

Lots of inking and I love that sweet little swallow ..

.. and the flower cluster is so very pretty!! 

I also love the die cut words .. love, faith, hope, blessings.  Such beautiful sentiments ..

.. and the angel wings in the center.  Absolutely stunning.

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Next is a small booklet created by Astrid.
It was presented in this lovely little hessian bag.

Anyone who knows Astrid's work knows she is a master at mixed media and this little booklet was made in her distinctive style.

She blends and matches colours to perfection ..

so many different techniques and mediums used in creating this booklet .. simply awesome!

I adore the quotes Astrid used as well .. so inspiring.

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Last, but certainly not least, is this stunning tag by Heather.

Heather also presented her gifts tucked into a gift bag. 

Love the warm subtle colour with that touch of black .. and she added our initial on top of those gorgeous layers .. fabulous!

Just look at all those layers .. awesome!!

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We all wrote some personal messages on the backs of our gifts as well.

You've probably noticed that Helen didn't have a project and that's because she had been on holiday and didn't think she would be able to make it.  As it turned out, she rang Heather the day before to say she was able to join us after all.   We were all so very glad she could come along but, as it was at the last minute, we were not able to exchange gifts with her though her presence was certainly gift enough for all of us.

I created a small photo folio for the girls and I will be sharing those with you in the weeks to come.  In the meantime, here are the links so you can take a look at these 'uberly' talented ladies creations.

ADRIANA BOLZON - AB Inspirations
ASTRID MACLEAN - Astrid's Artistic Efforts
HEATHER JACOB - Art and Life
HELEN WALLACE - Textures and Tales

Here's a few more photos from a fabulous 'Day Out'.
The first one is from Heather's camera.  The last two are from mine.

Thank you so much my gorgeous friends for an absolutely wonderful day.  It was such a great  pleasure to finally meet Astrid in the flesh, so to speak, and she is even more lovely in real life than she is online.  I will treasure the memories and the beautiful gifts you all gave for always.  Love and hugs to you all.

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And thank you all so much for dropping by and making it through this very long post.
Hope you enjoy the rest of your day and that the weather is being kind to you.
Take care and God Bless.

Friends are connected heart to heart ..
Distance and time cannot break them apart.

A Tag for "More Than Words' first Mini Challenge!!

Hello everyone and a very warm welcome to my blog, so nice you dropped by.  

I'm here to share a tag I made to join in with the brand new 'Mini Challenge' at the More Than Words facebook site.  The challenge is to use the word 'Be' in your project which, in this case, needs to be a card, a tag or an ATC and then you have to share it on their facebook page.

HERE is the link

 and here is my tag.

The paper used are from 7Dots Studio.  I received them as part of a give away prize I won from Helen Tilbury at Scrap Addict.  Have always wanted some of their papers so I was so thrilled to receive these.  I know I've said it before but, Thank you Helen!  I love these papers.
I did a little stamping and added some texture paste through a stencil for a bit more interest.  Once the paste was dry I added some extra colour.

The two larger blooms are available from Megs Garden.  I really love these flowers .. they have such a lovely shape, are the perfect size for cards and small projects and it is so easy to change their colour to whatever suits your creation.  All the other elements in the cluster are from my stash.  Once everything was glued down, I added some micro beads.

 

The chippie frame is from Imaginarium. Gave it a coat of gesso and then painted it with white acrylic paint.  While it was still wet, I sprinkled on some micro beads and pressed them into the paint.
A few of them did come off but I am happy with the amount that have stayed on.  After I glued the frame to my tag, I added more micro beads  in the center. 

The quote was printed out on my computer and I simply mounted it on some cardstock, edged it with gathered twigs distress ink and, once it was glued down, added more micro beads.

I was going to punch a hole at the top to thread some ribbon through but have decided that I will turn this tag into a Birthday card so the ribbon won't be needed.

.. And there you have it!!  I am so pleased I was able to join in with the very first Challenge at this new site.  My mojo seems to have gone on holiday and I have been struggling to finish some other projects I started a little while ago.  I'm hoping that, after taking a little break and doing  other things (like this tag), I will now be able to go back and finish those off.

Thank you so much for visiting and do enjoy the rest of your day.
Take care and God Bless.

A Tag .. and Planner Update!

Hello all my crafty friends.  So pleased you dropped by and hope you are having a wonderful day.

I'm here to share a little tag I created.  I watched a tutorial by Tammy Tuterow and, although the basic technique wasn't something new that I hadn't tried before, it was something I hadn't done in a while so I decided to have a little play.  HERE is the link to the tutorial and ..
this is my tag.

I used a slightly different colour combo to the one Tammy used and she used clear texture paste whereas mine is slightly transparent.  Tammy also added micro beads and glitter while the paste was still wet but, unfortunately, I got called away just after I stenciled this and by the time I got back, it was too late to do that.  Ah well, such is life.  Maybe next time.

I did some stamping on the background with my two fave stamps.  'Arty' and  a Script stamp .. both from Kaisercraft.

The two white blooms are the 'Puffy Paper Flower' and the 'Azalea' which are both available from Megs Garden.  The Azalea was all white , I simply coloured the center with some watered down acrylic paint.  The other flower was part of a crafty gift from my dear friend Heather Jacob.  

The chippie is from 2Crafty Chipboard and I added a little 'Rust' to the Tim Holtz Word Band.  The Word Band is available from Megs Garden.

I didn't follow the whole Tute from Tammy  .. just the basic background .. and then it just grew from there.  Not sure yet what I will do with this tag.  I may even turn it into my next Christmas card .. that should be interesting,  LOL!!

Now, about my Planner.  In my last post I mentioned that I wasn't really happy with the dividers I made.  I was even thinking of perhaps making some mixed media style ones, although that was going to be a lot of work.  Well, I did decide to change them.  Luckily, I had only done January and February so there wasn't a lot to change.

This is the original January divider ..

.. and this is the new one.

I am so much happier with the new ones.  I had downloaded some Katy Pertiet  free printables (HERE is the link) which I was going to use as small labels inside my planner.  I  resized them using Photo Shop and then also changed the colour balance on some of them to match in with the coloured monthly tabs and now they are my dividers .. and I love them!!!  The best part is .. they took hardly any effort at all.

 This is the original February divider ..

.. and this is the new one.

Covered the back of the last weekly January page, and created a pocket to hold my stickers.   A lot neater than doing it the other way,

I do realise that February is not the start of Autumn but I really love this page and it matched in well with the monthly tab.  So March, eat your heart out!!  LOL!!

So, that's my new look Planner.  Every once in a while I will show you more of my pages.  I'm really enjoying putting this together.  I don't have to worry about inking or stamping (unless I want to of course LOL!!)   all I'm really doing is adding stickers and washi (or my facsimile) and then just journaling about the things that are happening in my life.  I love it!!  No stress, no hassles, I only do what I want to do .. like I said "I love it!!"

That's all for today sweet friends.  Thank you so much for visiting and do enjoy the rest of your day.
Take care and God Bless.

 

My Fabulous Give Away Prize from Helen Tilbury!!

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog.

Just a quick post today.  Some weeks ago I entered a give away on Helen Tilbury's Blog

 SCRAP ADDICT and I won!!  There was no skill involved, you simply had to leave a comment on the post.   Helen did a random draw and I was lucky enough to have my name pulled out!!  As you can imagine, I was pretty chuffed.

Well, I'm even happier now because my prize has arrived and I thought I would show you what I have received.

My first reaction was .. WOW!!

There's 2 pads of 7Dots Studio papers (have always wanted some of those).  Another pad from a different Manufacturer (who I can't name because I'm afraid I threw out the packaging and it's gone into the re-cycle bin)   and a Journaling Magazine.

A bundle of some different ribbons and 2 fabulous  Prima Stencils.  I know they will get used quite a bit!!

And, last but not certainly not least, an Ingvild Bolme Craft Knife and a Color Bloom Spray .. and all of this just for leaving a comment!!  Like I said before .. WOW!!

But wait folks, there's more!!

I also received this gorgeous little tag made by Helen herself!!

Woo!! Hoo!!  I now have a Helen Tilbury original!!  LOL!!

This prize is awesome Helen!  I can't thank you enough ..  you are so generous and such a  sweetheart!!  THANK YOU so much!!  Mwah!! oxox

If you missed it at the beginning of this post, HERE is the link to Helen's blog.  Check it out people, she is an amazing artist and you will find loads of inspiration there!!

Thank you all so much for visiting and enjoy the rest of your day!!

Take care and God Bless. 

Happy Crafting!!

A Card for a Friend

Hello my lovely visitors and welcome to my blog and a very warm welcome too to my new followers.  So pleased you decided to tag along on my creative journey.  Thank you.

I hope everyone is having a lovely day.  It's supposed to be Spring here in Adelaide but it's
cold and wet and miserable!!  Can't even take the dogs for a walk .. don't like it!! 

So, now that I've had my little gripe, I'd like to share a card with you.  It's been a while since I posted and I had actually forgotten about this one as it was made for a friend and I couldn't show it until it had been received.  Was reminded about it when she showed it on facebook .. forget my head if it wasn't screwed on .. LOL!!

This is another instance where, I made a tag, and then simply attached it to folded cardstock and turned it into a card.   I also seem to be stuck in a loop with the colours but I love this combination .. light and fresh and very 'Spring' (wishful thinking)!

The papers are from Megs Garden's 'English Rose Garden' Mini Paper Pack.  As you can see, I used three layers and attached a strip of dry wall tape on one side.  I also tucked some strips of lace in between the layers.  The seam binding was coloured with watered down acrylic paint.

The roses are the 'Puffy Paper Flowers', also from Megs Garden (and my fave flower) which have been sprayed with watered down acrylic paint. 

Added a stamen cluster, twine and strips of gauze to my cluster and also scattered some seed beads around.

A closer look at the metal trinket.

The inside with a pocket on the right hand side for a little note.

I dry-brushed the flowers and the trinket with gesso and my card was done!  Hope you like it!!  My friend did .. she said so on facebook .. thanks Linda!!

Well, as they say in the cartoons, 'That's all folks'!!  For now anyway .. he!he!

Thank you all so much for paying me a visit and do enjoy the rest of your day. 


Take care and God Bless.